Monday, October 10, 2011

Indigenous People Day Poem

Today is Columbus Day in the United States.

i started writing this poem last year and the point of it is to raise awareness about the effects of Columbus travels and to ask you to reconsider calling it Indigenous People Day.

Hope you enjoy it!

en la lucha,

-rsc













Indigenous People Day Poem

by Rodrigo Sanchez-Chavarria


Today 518 years ago a man got lost
And found a ticket to fame
se persigno con la santa maria, la niƱa y la pinta
and left with god
traveled oceans
crossed timeline
towards the end of his world

lost years of human life
All to discover nothing.

landed on occupied land
and stole it
appropriated it
raped it
and called it HIS PA NIO LA

All in the name of the holy 1st world
he placed the blade on each side of their shoulders
anointed the soldiers metal
and declare holy war
treated natives as cattle
slaughtered butchered, conquered
it doesn't matter what noun you use
massacre still has the same effect.

and he continued on...

in the name of precious metal and spices
Enslaved thousands
to give them diseases
inject them with greed and rabies
expose them to a religion that
calls them
savages
murderers
ignorant
not human

and he continued on...

erased their way of life by force
enforced their ways
brick by brick
layer by layer
until their buildings replaced ours
hoping we forget

but we havent..
518 years and counting..
we have been speaking
you never chose to listen..
u gave us second class citizenship
yet you never chose to listen
you called our meeting a cultural exchange
but you never chose to listen
you gave us names because you couldnt pronounce ours
and you are still not listening

so we keep speaking
we keep asking...

Why do we build statues,
name avenues,
throw parades
for a man who got lost and discovered nothing?

-rsc

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Your anger is felt across the world my friend. As a Spaniard myself, I've struggled with the bloody history of my crumbled empire (much as I do with the history of the country we share today), and while I cannot reverse the imperialism which has fractured billions of histories, we can work together to ensure that no person is treated like property, and every child knows the true names of their ancestors. See you in the People's Plaza!